Step 3: Prompts

Step 4: Organising Your Project

Ask around your family and use the internet to find old photos, names etc- Armed Services organisations etc; www.Pipl.com; family tree organisations ...

If you have a grandparent or great-grandparent who loves to reminisce about “the old days”, make the most of their memories and record them for future generations before it’s too late. Unless you have perfect recall, their precious memories of your family will die out when they go.

Nowadays, oral history is not so often passed down from generation to generation, with children sitting and listen to their “elders” from early childhood on. We’re too busy with school and after-school activities, then with further education, work and interests...and we often don’t even live near, let alone with, our older generations. Life moves too fast and one day, when we stop and wonder where we came from, our elders may no longer be around.

However, we also live in an age of wonderful and reasonably cheap technology, so it’s easier than ever to record and share memories, photos etc from our family’s past.

This Instructable gives some ideas that I’ve tried out successfully with the elders in my family. I wish I had started years ago, but I’ve started now, and that’s what counts. I’ve met with such enthusiasm from family members and others I’ve spoken to that I thought I’d share my experiences.

You can use this method with your oldest family members or an elderly friend who has stories to tell; or if you are part of an organisation (school, club etc) that has been around for a while, you could record the “early days” of the organisation as told by former/older members.

Step 1: What You Need

You will need:

a) Willing elders – don’t discount the very old, as often they think about the past a lot, and may have much clearer memories of their childhood than you do of yours!

b) Recording device – digital voice recorder, camera or mobile phone with video/audio record function; tape recorder, or even pen and paper... see Step 2; also a computer with a burner and DVDs etc to store and share the results of your project

If all you have are pictures and a voice recorder, you can use Microsoft's Photo Story 3 to put together a really nice presentation. My wife and I did this for my family using the photos my late uncle had. Close to 150 photos and a 20 minute show ran us about 40 hours of work, most of which was spent cleaning the pictures and learning how to use Photostory. Some of the photos were over 100 yrs old and almost gone. Love the old Acer scanner (Win98 compatible! ;) , what a workhorse) and Irfanview plus Audacity. We made DVD's and gave them to everyone for Christmas. Not a dry eye in the house after the preview. Even the cousins and uncle we don't see often called after they saw it. Family history can be a powerful thing, give it a try.

This is such a great idea, unfortunately all of my grandparents have passed and I lamented and the time and even more now that I didn't record their stories, especially since one of my grandparents had dementia and all those stories were lost so fast. I think this is definitely something I will start, asking my parents about my grandparents and my parents childhood so I can keep it for my nephew when he is older, and for hopefully my own kids. We have so many photographs these days but often don't know the story behind them. On top of that I am completeing my Master's degree in social research so interviewing is a skill I have honed. Thank you for such a great idea.

That's a good point about the number of photos we have these days- we certainly need to record the stories behind them (and perhaps store copies of the significant ones separately from all the day-to-day digital stuff that we accumulate). Thanks for your comments, and good luck with your study and your Family History recording!

I recently started documentation of my family tree. Half heartedly I admit. My parents and grandparents are no longer with us. To add to this, both my mom's brother's passed this year. Thats a lot of history gone. My heritage dot com has been a great start and thanx to your 'ible, I now see how to proceed.

I'm glad it's helped to give you some ideas- all the best for your family project; the important thing is to start, even if you haven't got everything ready... you can always learn as you go, and anything recorded may be valuable in years to come :)

For Christmas my Mom gave me a CD with a recorded audio interview she had made with my late great grandmother in 1981. I have been listening to it and it is amazing!! What stood out the most was how young my mother sounded at age 30. My great grandmother was born in 1890 so I also got to hear about her first job in a shoe factory in England at age 14 plus dating her first husband at age 16 in 1906. Extremely fascinating and really hits home.

It's my belief that having something recorded is better than not having anything whatsoever, so don't let a little lack of enthusiasm on their part stop you. They may be unsure of what will be required of them. .It may sound allot harder than it actually is. You could always just roll audio and start up a conversation (as I would normally do anyway) and let the magic happen. Another thing that is often overlooked are the family recipes that are priceless and often impossible to replicate. Keep in mind, they've prepared them so many times that they might just do some things without listing them or explaining them adequately or accurately enough to be understood by the lame man. If anything is unclear, have them explain it to you. To me a recipe isn't a recipe unless I know what makes it tick tick tick tick...DING!...Anyway, gtg; tonight's Goat Chowder night and it's time to add the eyeballs.

OMG don't forget the eyeballs! Hope you've got that recipe recorded in glorious technicolor for posterity!

I agree that recording anything is a good start :) The old photos got my Mum going (also interview with granddaughter helped her to be less self-conscious), and the questions have really motivated my Mother-in-law. Once they got used to being recorded, they really got into it.

That's a great idea about the recipes- not just the recipe, but the extra touches! I'm thinking maybe video of Grandma showing one of the grandkids how to cook an old favourite...

Yes, my camera was on the gorilla tripod on the table; I leaned across to adjust the laptop screen and I must have bumped the camera or the gorillapod- didn't even notice but the gorillapod bent and over went the camera- onto the hard floor.

My Rule#1 used to be: ALWAYS take my camera with me (has served me well) but now it's

What a shame. It's taken my Mum a while to get going (my brother had got a voice recorder for her, but she prefers to write- except she doesn't get around to it). She couldn't postpone when my niece was there so I sat them down and gave my niece the list of questions... I got some good video of that, and also when I took her to see her brother, with the old family photos.

My Mother-in-law was doubtful at first, but I pointed out that her great-great grandchildren would be interested, and now she's fired up - she keeps thinking of more stories to tell. I bought the voice recorder for her to use alone or with other family members.

It's worth trying it with other elders n your family, if you have any that are willing. You never know when their memories will fade, or how long they will be around. I bet even your parents have some interesting stories to tell of pre-internet days;)

Nice 'ible, I should do this but all my family is 1600 miles away. Maybe next time I go to visit. This really is a good idea especially nowadays were kids are either too busy or just don't want to pay attention so eventually all our family history is gone.

Thanks for the comments :) It's a shame you're so far away from your family.

It was actually my cousin who lives in Spain (I'm in Australia) who was very interested in the old family photos- so that got me digging out old photos to scan and send to her, then I realised they needed descriptions, and other cousins were interested....

I wonder if you could get any of your rellies interested? Facebook is great for starting up a discussion, as well as getting in touch with cousins you don't usually see. If someone was willing to video an elder answering a few quesitons "for you", they might get the bug...

Good luck- hope you manage to get something recorded at least.

About This Instructable

Bio:I live on the outskirts of Melbourne with my husband and my 20-year-old son. I love the way I can just look out of my window and see gum trees, hills and bird visitors (kookaburras, magpies, rosellas,...read more »